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Rule Book Britain: are we in love with legislation?

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas 2018.

A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas 2018 festival at the Barbican on Sunday 14 October, produced in partnership with Diageo.

With the debate about Brexit at fever pitch, many critics of the EU look forward to Brexit as a means of cutting regulation, and fear that the current proposed deal will leave the UK still subject to over-regulation from Brussels. But in fact, most of the ‘red tape’ and ‘nanny state’ rules we face are homegrown. Almost every aspect of life in the UK is heavily regulated, from housing and transport to food and energy. Public health authorities have extended the reach of government intervention into our personal consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, salt, sugar and fat. Why has Britain become such an intensively regulated society? Is state intrusion the price we must pay to keep big business in check – or does it simply mean higher costs and more limits on choice?